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Los Angeles, CA, Nov 28, 2016 – On January 28-29, 2017 hundreds of educators, union and district leaders will convene for the second Teacher-Powered Schools National Conference. The conference is the largest national gathering for teacher teams working at or interested in developing a teacher-powered school—a trend that is transforming American public education from the inside out.

In teacher-powered schools, teacher teams secure autonomy to design and run their schools by making the decisions impacting student success. Conference breakout sessions are designed by practitioners with knowledge and experience in shared leadership, collaborative cultures, and student centered decision-making. There are also learning strands designed for union leaders and administrators interested in how they can create space for teacher-powered schools. Registration is open for the conference, which will be held at the UCLA Meyer & Renee Luskin Conference Center.

“Teacher-powered schools put a new spin on the concept of ‘teacher leadership’,” said Kim Farris-Berg, conference co-host and author of Trusting Teachers with School Success: What Happens When Teachers Call the Shots, “they place final decision-making authority over what matters for student and school success into the hands of those who know and understand students—the teachers.”

California has many outstanding teacher-powered schools. All attendees will start the conference on Saturday with a school tour of teacher-powered Social Justice Humanitas Academy (SJHA). Located on the Cesar Chavez Learning Campus, SJHA is on the border territory of two rival gangs, yet students beat all expectations with a 94% graduation rate and among the highest student achievement scores in their area.

Teacher-powered leaders and practitioners inspire teams to establish a vision that goes beyond traditional mindsets about “school” and “teacher’s roles.” They will ignite attendee’s imaginations, sharing their best practices for collaboratively designing and running all aspects of their schools in 30 plus breakout sessions.

A pre-conference school tour is scheduled on Friday, January 27th at the historic Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools campus in downtown Los Angeles—the former site of the Ambassador Hotel and of Kennedy’s assassination. The campus has six teacher-powered schools serving students from mostly immigrant families in one of the poorest, most densely populated parts of California. The schools place a strong emphasis on social justice in their learning programs, a living legacy to RFK.